Size and scale of the system

The public examination system is a vast and highly complex operation deploying some of the nation’s best educational expertise in an intensive period to produce results across a range of qualifications. In August 2016, we issued:

· In 2016, around 15.4 million GCSE and A level examination scripts[1] were marked. Approximately 51,000 examiners were employed by exam boards with the majority involved in the marking and moderation of GCSEs, A levels, AS and other academic qualifications.

· Hundreds of staff are employed to process the results in a tight time-frame of seven weeks from the date of the last examination.

· In 2016, candidates entered for specifications spanning 49 GCSE subject areas and 36 GCE subject areas. In most subjects there is a choice of syllabus or specification and a choice of content.

The qualifications with the largest numbers of entries were GCSE mathematics, with 757,296 entries, and GCSE English, with 513,285 entries.

[1] This relates to externally set and marked exam scripts and does not include internal assessment